location, location, location

I haven't done much ice fishing this year, but whatever I've been able to do, has been challenging and informative.

First off, this is the first year I've haven't used live bait. Instead I've been using a hand poured bait that I designed last year. Originally I rigged it on a 1/16 oz ballhead jig and caught a few crappie, perch and a 2 lb bass. But I was getting more bites I couldn't hook so I downsized the baits and the jighead (1/32 with a smaller hook -#8) and was able to catch the smaller fish of each species. Heck, it's not just about catching 12" slabs!!!

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j3...ps9683a8ea.jpg
(the minnow popped out of a crappies mouth)

The other thing that surprised me was how shallow the fish have been this year. Many ice fishermen left holes over the deepest water in the lake (13'). I've tried those holes and only came up with 2 small perch. On the way back to the truck I decided to drill some holes in 5' where weeds were present. Sure enough, four 10.5" crappies, a few more yellow perch and a bass as the sun was going down.

Tomorrow I'll stay in that depth and not bother with the graph sonar (which I have to say was pretty awesome in that I could see the path my jig made on the way up, down and jigged!)